Bitscape

Thursday, March 16

We were hunting around the office for a price list. Amidst the pile of papers, a graph found its way to the top.

T: "Have you seen this?"

Me: "No. What is it?"

T: "It shows who really owns the natural food companies."

I knew things were bad, but even I hadn't comprehended the extent to which the situation has deteriorated in our particular business.

I looked at it for a moment, then jotted down the url.

A few moments later, back downstairs, I commented, "When I see stuff like that, it makes me think that maybe we've already sold our souls."

As if I had just stated something patently obvious, T replied, "We sold our souls long ago. No doubt about that."

She's right, of course. Though we are a member-owned co-op, we use many of the same sorts of gimmicks and marketing jangles as any other corporate retailer. We just put a nice, happy, eco-friendly face on it. Aside from some local produce and farm eggs, and a few brands that still remain genuinely independent, most of the products we sell come from companies that appear on that graph.

That's not to say that I think there's no hope. I would still prefer us to a Whole Foods Market any day. And I'd much, much, much rather shop and work at an Open Harvest than a King Soopers. The very fact that such a document was floating around on a manager's desk indicates that the people running the place are cognizant of what's going on. But what do you do when the tea your customers love from the nice little Celestial Seasonings plant outside of Longmont silently becomes yet another division within a division of the Heinz corporation? What do you do when the same thing happens to virtually all your suppliers? (With some still-notable exceptions.)

In the same way major media outlets have been corrupted by a fear of losing sponsorships, I believe the potential exists for even small, local, democratic co-ops to be corrupted by dependence on a few big players to fill our shelves. Or maybe, as T's statement seemed to imply -- she's been on the inside longer than I have, and I trust her judgement -- we're the frog that's already been cooked, and we're well past done.

Even if that is so, I still see value in being involved with such a place, not as an end unto itself, but as a means to connect and cultivate alliances with other like-minded souls. Be ever-wary of the institution, but find solidarity amongst those working within it. This is my motto. Be mindful of a time when it may become necessary to escape the hollowed-out skeleton of ossified organizational structure. But before that happens, strengthen ties with most-treasured people there; develop ways of connecting, communicating, and bonding that exist independent of the workplace, so that if and when it does become inviable, it won't be our single point of failure.

This is my current plan, anyway. Let's see how well it can be put into action.

Wednesday, March 15

Ran Prieur has just posted a new essay. It's entitled "Fall Down Six Times". In it, he imagines a range of possible scenarios for humanity's future. I'm tempted to post some quotes, but... the whole thing is just too damn good. The guy is a master at evoking both inspirational wonder and gut-wrenching dread. If you only have time to read one thing today, forget about the crappy little post I wrote below, and instead checkout Ran's powerful words.

Out of the Past, Into the Future

During the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be relocating my central headquarters to a lovely little enclosure down in the heart of Lincoln.

A few minutes before the final Open Harvest cooking class of the season began on March 6, I snapped a few photos of the scene. I thought about trying to take pictures of food art in action, but not wanting to disrupt Kris's tutorial, I decided against it.

I've been doing my best not to be overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done. As mentioned in a previous post, I made use of the local freecycle to get rid of my tv. Today, I also used it to acquire a modem. Yes, you read right. At my new place, I'll be using dialup, at least for a while. Call it part of the whole "simplification" process if you like. Or a way to save money. Or an effort to foster diversity in the ISP market, as the big broadband providers work to rid the net of its most important aspects as a many-to-many communication medium. Whatever.

I thought briefly about just going offline cold-turkey (or using the library for occassional net access, as some of my cowokers do), but I think that would be too much for me right now. So I'm going to stick this modem into Argo, relearn how to use pppd, and... well.... maybe after a week, I'll be begging alltel to install a dsl line. Then again, maybe not. I'm theorizing that it might actually stimulate geeky creativity on my part, as I find ways to (re)adapt to a smaller pipe. We'll see though.

As for this website, I intend to continue broadcasting in one form or another for a while longer. I've also been spending a bunch of time putting together a "definitive" edition of the archive content. Everything I've posted to the site over the years in a modular, easily navigable format. All static html files for easy portability, each one with a look and feel as close to the original as I can get. So far, I'm halfway through 1999. I'd like to have it posted before I move, but I'm not sure I'll have it all done by then.

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